Do I count as a dependent on my wife's taxes with zero income and pending disability?

No, you would not qualify as your wife's dependent. When you're married, you generally cannot claim your spouse as a dependent regardless of their income situation. You have two options for filing: jointly or married filing separately. Filing jointly is typically more beneficial for most couples. Even though you had no income in 2024, you can (and probably should) still file jointly with your wife. This usually results in a lower overall tax burden compared to filing separately. If your disability claim is approved and you receive backpay, that would count as income in the year you receive it, not the period it covers. So if you receive it in 2025, it becomes 2025 income, even though it covers 2023-2024.

I was in a really similar situation last year! I'd been out of work waiting on disability approval while my husband worked. I was so confused about all the tax implications and spent hours trying to find clear answers. Then I found this AI tax assistant at https://taxr.ai that was honestly a game-changer for my specific situation. I uploaded our previous tax returns and explained my no-income/pending-disability situation, and it immediately clarified that married couples can't claim each other as dependents, but showed me exactly how filing jointly would still benefit us despite my lack of income. It even helped me understand how the potential back pay would be handled tax-wise when it finally came through.

Just wanted to follow up on my taxr.ai experience! After asking about it here, I helped my mom use it for her disability/tax situation. It was surprisingly helpful! She uploaded her previous return and the system immediately recognized her specific situation with the pending disability claim. It walked her through exactly how different types of disability payments are taxed (turns out only a portion of hers will be taxable) and gave her scenarios for how to handle the backpay when it arrives. The system actually saved us from making a pretty big mistake with how we were planning to report it. Really glad I saw the recommendation here!

Just want to add - while waiting for disability claims to go through, dealing with the IRS can add another layer of stress. When I needed answers about a similar situation (spouse with disability backpay), I couldn't get through to anyone at the IRS for weeks. Finally used https://claimyr.com and got connected to an actual IRS agent in under 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c They helped clarify that while I couldn't claim my wife as a dependent, there were still benefits to filing jointly even with her temporary zero income. Also confirmed how disability backpay would be treated for tax purposes when it finally arrived.

Well I feel like I need to eat my words about that Claimyr service. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it because I've been trying to get through to the IRS for WEEKS about my own disability tax question. I was shocked when my phone rang 45 minutes later and it was actually a real IRS agent! Didn't have to sit on hold at all. The agent confirmed that my husband and I should still file jointly despite my disability situation, and explained exactly how any potential backpay would be taxed. She even noted some deductions related to medical expenses that I hadn't considered. I was 100% wrong about it being sketchy - it saved me so much time and frustration.

One important thing to know - if your disability claim gets approved and you get backpay, you might need to file amended returns for those previous years depending on what type of disability it is. I went through this with SSDI backpay and it was complicated.

Has anyone mentioned the possible impact to health insurance? When my husband was waiting for disability approval, we had to figure out if him being my "dependent" for health insurance through my job was the same as a tax dependent. It's not! Those are completely different systems.

I just went through almost the exact same situation last year! My husband had been out of work for most of 2023 due to health issues while waiting for his disability determination, and I was so confused about how to handle our taxes. As others have mentioned, you definitely can't claim your spouse as a dependent - that's not how the tax code works for married couples. But filing jointly is almost certainly going to be your best option even with your zero income situation. When we filed jointly, we actually ended up with a larger refund than we would have gotten if I had filed separately, even though he had no income to contribute. One thing I wish someone had told me earlier - if you do get approved for disability and receive backpay, make sure you understand which type of disability benefits you're getting. SSDI backpay gets taxed in the year you receive it (not spread across the years it covers), but the tax impact might not be as bad as you think since you can sometimes use income averaging rules. Also, keep really good records of any medical expenses you've had during this time - they might be deductible and could help offset taxes if you do get a large backpay amount later. Good luck with your disability claim!